The Hofstra University women’s basketball team suffered a tough 62-38 loss against St. John’s University at home on Wednesday, Dec. 11. The Pride now hold a 3-6 record while the Red Storm improve to 9-1. Emma Von Essen led Hofstra in scoring with 12 points on four buckets, three of which were 3- pointers. Chloe […]
The Hofstra University women’s basketball team suffered a tough 62-38 loss against St. John’s University at home on Wednesday, Dec. 11. The Pride now hold a 3-6 record while the Red Storm improve to 9-1.
Emma Von Essen led Hofstra in scoring with 12 points on four buckets, three of which were 3- pointers. Chloe Sterling and Zyheima Swint each grabbed eight rebounds, helping to ensure that the team’s Achilles’ heel of giving up chances for offensive rebounds did not come back to haunt them. Sterling also led the Pride with four of their seven assists.
The Pride shot 32.6% overall and allowed the Red Storm to score 28 points in the paint.
“[St. John’s] were able to hit some big-time shots, they were able to knock down some really high-percentage shots,” said Hofstra head coach Danielle Santos Atkinson. “For us defensively, we allowed a lot of easy buckets at times that we needed to get stops. Offensively, when we played with tempo and we kept our pace, we got some really good stuff.”
Swint, coming off the bench for the second game in a row, made her 100th career block during the game with nearly two minutes left in the third quarter. Swint is now one of only eight players to ever record 100 blocks for the Pride.
“[Swint] is a paint presence,” Santos said. “She definitely protects us in the paint. She does a great job rotating [and] she has the back of those perimeter folks. Whether it’s her rotation or not, she does a great job of getting there and forcing some tough shots.”
Turnovers continue to be a problem for the Pride, as they gave the ball to the Red Storm 19 times, Hofstra only forced 10 giveaways.
With just over one minute left to play, Santos took out all her starters, placing a young group of five out on the court for the Pride. Micaela Carter, a regular off Hofstra’s bench for the past season, joined new faces Maddie Pounds, Ema Karim, Kassidy Thompson and Michaela Hodge to represent the Pride in the final leg of the game. Karim and Hodge both recorded a block while Pounds made it to the line twice. She was not able to collect her first collegiate points, though, going 0-4 at the charity stripe.
“[Pounds, Karim, Thompson and Hodge] are doing a great job in practice of continuing to develop, continue to grow, continuing to get better,” Santos said about her young new talent. “They are great additions to our team and I’ve got no doubt that they’re going to continue to work, continue to get better and will be able to be impacts for our team.”
For St. Johns, Lashae Dwyer led in scoring with 18 points while Kylie Lavelle trailed with 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Ber’Nyah Mayo gave the Red Storm six of their 15 assists.
The Pride have some time off before they hit the road again as they are due to visit Bucknell University on Saturday, Dec. 21. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. at the Kenneth Langone Athletics and Recreation Center in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
Photos courtesy of Ethan Albin
